


Loosen My Lips (With Yours)

by puptart



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Alcohol, Drinking & Talking, F/M, Female Runner Five, Slight Season 3 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 05:32:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3598239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puptart/pseuds/puptart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam receives the gift of a brand new bottle of tequila. Runner Five stops by, leading to a discussion on emotions and past relationships (and possibly future ones).<br/>Minor Season 3 spoilers, mostly implied.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loosen My Lips (With Yours)

**Author's Note:**

> This is another fic prompt I got while doing a few ask memes on tumblr. The prompt was 'Sam/Runner Five "things you said when you were drunk"'. 
> 
> Here's the link to the original: http://puptart.tumblr.com/post/112853007810/sam-runner-five-things-you-said-when-you-were
> 
> There are some minor tweaks between that version and this one.

Runners, by virtue of being the first to lay hand on anything coming into Abel Township, had some unofficial perks. The official protocol for any supply missions was that the runner, and their gear, would first make their way to the hospital for bite checks and to have any injuries treated. Second, they were to find the proper duty manager for whatever things they had found and distribute them accordingly. 

Certain objects didn't make it to step two. Most runners avoided keeping  _much_ for themselves, maybe a candy bar or a pair of socks here and there. Small, typically inconspicuous items that weren't all that high in demand. Sam had never known any of his runners to hoard vital supplies like batteries or fuel. 

By virtue of being their operator, Sam Yao also found himself benefiting from certain runner perks. Simon had pretty much been his sole supplier of Curly Wurlys before... well, before. Now it was Five who brought his black market candies. Yang usually had a comic book or two for him, and Paula liked to find and give him sparkly glitter pens for whatever reason. The candy and pens he kept for himself, the comic books he would read and then give to the library.

Jody though, wonderful, amazing Jody, was his supplier in substances. Well. Liquor. Maxine basically had control of all distribution of pot in Abel. She wasn't exactly stingy with it either, so long as your work shift was done and you agreed to a few volunteer hours in the hospital. As for anything else, Janine had forbidden it. Even then, Sam had it on good authority that Lou had her ways of attaining illicit drugs. Not that Sam was interested, thanks.

Anyway.

Jody had found him a bottle- a full bottle!- of tequila. Really decent tequila at that. When she'd shoved the unopened bottle at him after her run, he'd thought she was just offering him the first drink, but she had insisted that he keep it to himself.

"Just consider it a thank you. And maybe an 'I'm sorry' as well." She said, her smile just the littlest bit pinched at the corners. He thought to ask her if she was alright, but she'd just flounced out and was gone before he could. At some point or other they would really need to sit down with one another and have a heart to heart.

For now, he decided to show his appreciation by enjoying a post-work drink. Or two or three. It was hard to keep track when he didn't have a cup and was just going at it straight from the bottle. It was really good quality stuff, smooth and almost too easy to drink. He stopped himself about a quarter of the way through, just as the sun was going down and the room started getting fuzzy around the edges. Slumped back in his chair, he sighed. Evening rations would be done, he realized regretfully. He was a ravenous sort of drunk, and his stomach was already grumbling.

That's what emergency Marmite was for though. He reached under the desk and patted around for the cardboard box where he kept his secret (not-so-secret) stash. There was a firm knock on the door just as he'd dipped his finger in and stuffed a huge glob of it into his mouth. Two knock, meaning it wasn't Janine (she always did three, evenly spaced raps, if she ever bothered to knock at all), and not Maxine, who pounded on the door like he was hard of hearing.

"Come in!" He called, muffled with his mouth full. As he expected, it was Five who poked her head in. She didn't comment on his Marmite smeared face, just nudged the door open with the side of her foot and came in. He noticed almost immediately that she was carrying a big tray of food in her hands, the smell of which wafted in.

"You missed dinner." She said with a shrug in response to his reverent staring. Quickly, after wiping his sticky fingers off on his jeans (mildly gross but he'd worry about it later), he swept aside all the junk covering the surface of the desk so she could set it down. There were a few slices of bread, a small baked potato with a bit of butter, and a bowl of... soup? It smelled good, whatever it was.

"How'd you swing all this?" He asked, breathing in the aroma. She shrugged again, looking a little embarrassed. He took that to mean that it was actually  _her_ dinner, and that the people doling out good had given her extra again. Most runners got a little more than usual to make up for the calories they burned sprinting around, but this was more than the usual. "Must be hard being a big hero." Sam joked before he could stop himself. Five's jaw tightened over her smile.

Five took a seat in the extra chair, scooting it close enough that they were bumping knees. It was innocuous contact, but it still made his heart race a bit and had him pressing a little closer. It was so much more the usual for him to only be able to see her, not touch. She was about to grab a slice of bread when the bottle of tequila next to the monitors caught her eye. Her eyebrows shot straight up before she looked over to him questioningly.

"Jody." He said, then took a long slurp of the soup. Pea soup. Nice. "I think, ah, we're still apologizing to one another." She nodded solemnly. Then she reached out and measure the amount he had drank with her fingers. Her thumb rested against the bottle as the line the liquid inside made, and then stretched her index finger up to approximately where it had been before he had taken the first drink. He could feel her start to work up a good judge-y aura (god but he hated that word and how it made him shiver every time he thought or spoke it on accident) so he just grabbed it by the neck and took one more swig before passing it to her.

Now the thing about Five that he sort of liked but also hated was that she would pretty much do anything asked of her and not question it or complain. It was great for when he needed someone to do something that screamed against logic (such as running  _at_ a huge horde to avoid another larger one coming at her perpendicularly, or screaming to attract fast zoms so another runner could repair the field cams), but in most cases, it was a little worrisome. Especially after Moonchild. Not to say that she didn't have a spine though. She certainly did. Just not for certain people, and Sam was well aware that he was one of those people. She was aware that he was aware too, so the drink she took was incredibly unimpressed.  _Try harder,_ she seemed to say, never breaking eye contact as she took a long draw. The expression disappeared after a moment, and she looked down at the bottle in surprise.

"Oh." She said, and took another. Sam laughed, feeling warm down to his toes. His toes which had suddenly gotten very friendly with Five's ankle without consulting his brain first. Whoops. Oh no, wait. Her toes were getting friendly right back. Alright then.

"Goes down easy, huh?" He chuckled, voice going up a notch when the top of her foot slid around the back of his calf, traveled upwards, and pressed into the back of his knee. She didn't even have the excuse of being drunk yet. He was scandalized and delighted. Sam cleared his throat, then thought back on what he'd just said. "Not uh, not like  _that_ , obviously. Ha."

She laughed at him teasingly, then put the bottle aside, far enough that she clearly had had enough. Sam was slightly disappointed. It would have been fun to work their way through the bottle together. Five was cautious though, and usually didn't allow herself to cut loose. She practically forced him to eat two of the bread slices, saying nothing when he spread Marmite on them.

Together they quietly ate the food, mostly just enjoying the company and the physical contact their tangled legs were making. Sam felt himself gradually slip from very drunk, to mostly drunk, to only sort of drunk by the time they were done. He made a grabby hand at the bottle. Five obliged him. Before she could hand it over though, he put his hand over the one she had curled around the neck, and gestured for her to take a drink first. She rolled her eyes, took a swig, then passed it to him.

"I miss this." He said when he'd taken a hearty drink of his own. Five made a questioning noise. Sam gestured all around them, meaning Abel. "I miss... I miss when we could just be happy, you know?" The look of pity on Five's face nearly broke his heart. Belatedly, he realized maybe that wasn't the best direction to steer the conversation. Not with her. His chest seized tight.

"Are you unhappy, Sam?" She asked, putting a hand on his knee. It was a completely neutral gesture, just a light, grounding pressure. He thought hard about the question before answering.

"No. Not me." He said eventually, thinking that if he had started them on that track he may as well see them through it. "I just. It's not even  _unhappiness_ exactly. Like, we're all happy! Yay! We aren't mind controlled! But-" He hesitated there, but her eyes were mostly clear despite the drinking, and she was nodding encouragingly. "-some of us just seem so weighed down now. It's not like before, when we... I dunno. When everyone was basically in the same boat and could take comfort in it."

"We still are in the same boat." She said, but much as she liked to pretend she was okay, just fine! at all times, even to him, he could hear the strain in her voice. Even saving the world, again, didn't seem to have healed the hurt.

"Five," he said pointedly.

"Maybe that's enough to drink." She said, reaching out to take the bottle. On reflex, probably from all the times he'd played keep away with his little sister, he jerked back and held it away. She pushed up out of her chair, but he moved back farther, forcing her to follow. By the time she managed to grab it, her knee was braced on his chair, and he was, essentially, face first in her chest.

He did not react. Nope.

He would react later.

She shoved his face, which was burning red. "That's what you get." She told him, capping the bottle and putting it down on the floor behind her chair as she settled back into it. Sam had never really been into punishments or things of that nature, but it that's what she thought him being 'bad' deserved? Sam was all for it.

"You're great." He said, which was far better than anything he had just been thinking. Thank God he still had some brain to mouth filter working for him. "You are  _the best_."

"Thanks." She said flatly. Sam sat up, a fierce need for her to understand igniting in his gut.

"You've always been great." He said, and she blinked at the sudden change in his tone. "Always. Still are. No matter what, I'm with you." Her face twisted up, and for a moment he was terrified that she might start to cry, but no. She composed herself almost immediately. Five did not cry. Not where she thought he could see it.

"You're great too, Sam." She said, just as genuinely, her voice gone a bit funny. Her hand was on his knee again, though a touch higher than before, her grip more steely. "If not for you, I don't know that I'd have come back every time that I did." He swallowed, knowing she didn't just mean missions. Then he said possibly the stupidest thing he had ever said before.

"You are nothing like Alice, you know?"

She removed her hand immediately.

"Wait, wait!" He reached out, but she pulled back, expression clearly hurt and demanding an explanation. Which yeah, she totally deserved. It sounded bad, the way he'd said it, but it honestly wasn't. He just needed to explain himself. "I just. I mean, you know about me and Alice, right?"

She nodded.

"Right, well, I was afraid for a long time after I gave you her number that I was trying to replace her." He admitted. It was the first time he'd ever voiced that fear aloud to anyone. "I couldn't do that to her, you know? She had just died, and I cared for her _so much_. The thought that I could ever consider her so replaceable was just... gross. But as time went on, it became easier to hear 'Runner Five' and not see her face in my head. I saw you, I  _see_ you. I used to compare you to her a lot too. A lot, a lot. Especially at first, when it was all so fresh in my head." She nodded again, her expression gone soft as he spoke. "But now I don't. Because you're you, and she's Alice. I thought my feelings were getting all mixed up, but now I'm sure they aren't." 

He sat back in his chair, eyeing her face carefully to see what she thought. Thankfully, he was still just inebriated enough to not care that he had just laid out all the feelings he'd been keeping bottled up, swearing to never voice them for two and some years now.

Five leaned forward, a hand on his jaw. He closed his eyes as she pressed a firm kiss to his forehead. Then, quietly, she said, "You are my home."

While his mind reeled a bit, she gathered up the food tray and headed for the door. Glancing at him over her shoulder, she smiled, a bit red in the face, and said, "We can talk more tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." He agreed.


End file.
